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The Democratic Alliance (DA) wishes to welcome the announcement by Public Protector, Thuli Madonsela, that she will be investigating the awarding of tenders by the Limpopo government to On-Point Engineering; a company with links to Julius Malema.

I wrote to the Public Protector on two separate occasions requesting investigation as reports emerged alleging Julius Malema to be involved in tender fraud. I have also written to SARS on two occasions to request an audit into Mr Malema’s finances - a “Lifestyle Audit”- although SARS does not make their investigations public I was assured that all complaints are investigated.

In my request for investigation I mentioned the Ratanang Family Trust of which Mr Malema is a trustee, and allegations that businesspeople paid money into the trust in return for government tenders. I hope that these allegations will form part of the public protector’s investigation.

It is a great source of comfort and pride for South Africans that we can rely on independent institutions such as the Public Protector to ensure that unlawful behavior will be investigated and brought to public attention without fear or favour.